Posted: Fri May 01, 2009 5:16 pmThere's plenty of Neros and *$s.
Ed
(I'll get my coat)
Ed
(I'll get my coat)
Page 2 of 2
Posted: Fri May 01, 2009 5:16 pmPosted: Fri May 01, 2009 5:48 pmI can feel a headache coming on
Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 12:56 amLooked at opening in Manchester. It one of the largest city's in the north of England and hasn't got a single decent coffee house. As mentioned though the all the great spaces have astronomical rents. Shame
Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2010 10:48 amtry Wayne and Jane at North Tea Power, they work very hard and are extremely passionate about serving the coffee the best way they can.
http://northteapower.co.uk/
36 TIB STREET, MANCHESTER, M41LA
http://northteapower.co.uk/
36 TIB STREET, MANCHESTER, M41LA
Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 4:59 pmwow, two threads, two big plugs.
What coffee they using Youri?
What coffee they using Youri?
Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 5:55 pmQuote from Twitter: "It's THE place for iced vanilla lattes in Manchester"
Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 8:33 pmBombcup wrote:wow, two threads, two big plugs.
What coffee they using Youri?
They are using our house blend which is a blend of Brazil, El Salvador and India.
I just like how Wayne and Jane put so much love into it and I hope they get support from the coffee community.
I heard already one member of TMC went there today
Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 10:14 pmI'm the aforementioned TMC member, so i guess it would be rude not to offer a review.
First off the tea, since that's their specialty.
Their no.1 product is tea, but pulled espresso style. The marmalade tea is worth it for a laugh although it's a bit sweet for my taste. I did actually perversely enjoy the straight espresso-tea, and reckon it's well worth a punt for any coffee fan, out of interest at least, but I actually got them to pull me a ridiculously strong one and had an interesting chat about it. Some interesting possibilities.
They have a good range of loose leaf, all treated with the right TLC, and plenty to keep you busy, certainly tasted good to me. I particularly enjoyed the roasted bancha, and I took a bag of their white tea home.
Secondly, the staff:
Extremely friendly and switched on, with plenty of time for their regulars, but making new customers feel welcome too (I thought they did well when a customer walked in and asked for a white coffee). Had some good conversation and found them very open and interested in ideas. Nice to be talking to the owners behind the bar for once.
Thirdly, the coffee:
They wouldn't tell me who roasted it, which is fair enough, but now I know anyway. The espresso was bitter, obv a bit of a dark roast and fairly uninteresting. A look/sniff in the grinder confirmed the length of the roast, oils showing, definitely over-roasted in my book. I recommended they ask their roaster for a lighter roast and they were very interested in that. As has been mentioned they're very keen and eager to be serving good coffee so watch this space.
In defence of the roaster (i've also found some info on their website useful once or twice), they advertise single origins which sound better, a bespoke blend service, and then advertise this house blend as “appealing to everyone” which I think can be taken as a good or bad thing, since to me this roast is for *$ drinkers. Commercial sense maybe, but not a shot for me. Hopefully they'll change it up. I did also wonder out loud if the machine wasn't hitting the grounds with too much pressure.
The cappuccino on the other hand was pretty good. Quite pleasant job done with the foam, no scorching, and a very good size and ratio of coffee to milk. Pity there was still some bitterness from the coffee, but I'd buy it again, unlike the place up the road where I couldn't even drink it.
I'm not that bothered by food but I love anyone who puts muesli on the menu since I live off the stuff!!
All in all, had a really nice afternoon and will keep my promise to return! Go along, give them some support and see/say what you think of their coffee – you won't get snarled at, so they're already ahead of the game. Manchester could yet have excellent coffee!
Thanks for the recommendation Youri
Sam
First off the tea, since that's their specialty.
Their no.1 product is tea, but pulled espresso style. The marmalade tea is worth it for a laugh although it's a bit sweet for my taste. I did actually perversely enjoy the straight espresso-tea, and reckon it's well worth a punt for any coffee fan, out of interest at least, but I actually got them to pull me a ridiculously strong one and had an interesting chat about it. Some interesting possibilities.
They have a good range of loose leaf, all treated with the right TLC, and plenty to keep you busy, certainly tasted good to me. I particularly enjoyed the roasted bancha, and I took a bag of their white tea home.
Secondly, the staff:
Extremely friendly and switched on, with plenty of time for their regulars, but making new customers feel welcome too (I thought they did well when a customer walked in and asked for a white coffee). Had some good conversation and found them very open and interested in ideas. Nice to be talking to the owners behind the bar for once.
Thirdly, the coffee:
They wouldn't tell me who roasted it, which is fair enough, but now I know anyway. The espresso was bitter, obv a bit of a dark roast and fairly uninteresting. A look/sniff in the grinder confirmed the length of the roast, oils showing, definitely over-roasted in my book. I recommended they ask their roaster for a lighter roast and they were very interested in that. As has been mentioned they're very keen and eager to be serving good coffee so watch this space.
In defence of the roaster (i've also found some info on their website useful once or twice), they advertise single origins which sound better, a bespoke blend service, and then advertise this house blend as “appealing to everyone” which I think can be taken as a good or bad thing, since to me this roast is for *$ drinkers. Commercial sense maybe, but not a shot for me. Hopefully they'll change it up. I did also wonder out loud if the machine wasn't hitting the grounds with too much pressure.
The cappuccino on the other hand was pretty good. Quite pleasant job done with the foam, no scorching, and a very good size and ratio of coffee to milk. Pity there was still some bitterness from the coffee, but I'd buy it again, unlike the place up the road where I couldn't even drink it.
I'm not that bothered by food but I love anyone who puts muesli on the menu since I live off the stuff!!
All in all, had a really nice afternoon and will keep my promise to return! Go along, give them some support and see/say what you think of their coffee – you won't get snarled at, so they're already ahead of the game. Manchester could yet have excellent coffee!
Thanks for the recommendation Youri
Sam
Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2010 3:09 pmI go to Lily's in Urmston - http://www.lilyscoffeelounge.com/
Better coffee than Costa, Starbucks etc. so long as you have '2 shots' in their latte. But then as a newbie I don't claim to be an expert.
In the centre of Manchester, one of the better ones I've found is upstairs in Waterstones bookshop - surprisingly. But I'll be sure to try North Tea Power
Martin
Better coffee than Costa, Starbucks etc. so long as you have '2 shots' in their latte. But then as a newbie I don't claim to be an expert.
In the centre of Manchester, one of the better ones I've found is upstairs in Waterstones bookshop - surprisingly. But I'll be sure to try North Tea Power
Martin
Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 1:14 amWelcome to TMC mbarlo 
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 12:44 amJust as a quick update on North Tea Power, I'm in there quite regularly at the moment (every few weeks). As already mentioned, very friendly and welcoming staff, great service and love to chat about all things coffee/tea/etc.
Their coffee is now entirely supplied by HasBean. They've been using the Blake blend (which Wayne pulls as a slightly longer shot, not overwhelming on the pallet and big on spice), and I believe they're looking again at some of the other blends as HasBean release mk2s. They also offered a single estate espresso briefly (the Bolivia Loayza from HasBean) along side - they did a really good job with it, and apparently got good feedback from customers on it, so I'm hoping it's something they'll consider doing again.
Anyway, as is very obvious, I heartily recommend it and also encourage anyone popping in to get chatting coffee with them
Their coffee is now entirely supplied by HasBean. They've been using the Blake blend (which Wayne pulls as a slightly longer shot, not overwhelming on the pallet and big on spice), and I believe they're looking again at some of the other blends as HasBean release mk2s. They also offered a single estate espresso briefly (the Bolivia Loayza from HasBean) along side - they did a really good job with it, and apparently got good feedback from customers on it, so I'm hoping it's something they'll consider doing again.
Anyway, as is very obvious, I heartily recommend it and also encourage anyone popping in to get chatting coffee with them
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 12:59 amWelcome to TCM Mbarlo.
One of the TCM members (Colin) did a post on a place in South Manchester, just a few weeks ago. It's newly opened from what I can remember. I am not sure of the geography but this is a link to the post. http://www.toomuchcoffee.com/index.php? ... ht=#118779
Ray
One of the TCM members (Colin) did a post on a place in South Manchester, just a few weeks ago. It's newly opened from what I can remember. I am not sure of the geography but this is a link to the post. http://www.toomuchcoffee.com/index.php? ... ht=#118779
Ray
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 12:57 pmHi MBarlo, and welcome to TMC from another noob! (I believe a certain but undisclosed number of muffins must be sent to The Management and a cat avatar sourced before one can pass beyond the noob stage, or so I understand...)
Hoping to get to NTP this weekend, it does sound good. T'other half can shop, I can drink, both of us are happy
I've been visiting Coffee Fix for a few weeks and remain impressed. There's also a new Has Bean-serving place in Bowdon opened up in a CAKE SHOP (easy! ) which do splendiferous cakes, which is a good thing as the coffee wasn't quite up to scratch.
Things are looking up in Manchester then...
Colin
Hoping to get to NTP this weekend, it does sound good. T'other half can shop, I can drink, both of us are happy
I've been visiting Coffee Fix for a few weeks and remain impressed. There's also a new Has Bean-serving place in Bowdon opened up in a CAKE SHOP (easy!
) which do splendiferous cakes, which is a good thing as the coffee wasn't quite up to scratch.
Things are looking up in Manchester then...
Colin
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 11:49 pmI visited Coffee Fix the other week and was served a very citrusy Yirgacheffe brewed with a Melitta cone. I was quite impressed.
Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 6:00 pmJust posted about coffee-fix, but wanted to make a couple of comments about NorthTeaPower again!
Basically they're great. Tea/coffee/muesli/cake - winner. They've upgraded grinder, are shopping for a new espresso machine and have started doing single origin coffees as well as the new house blend. They are now supplied by the all conquering Steve, and things are looking good and tasty!
I'm constantly impressed with the micro-foam on the capps, especially after being disappointed by some very well known establishments in the Big Smoke... ...However, I'm finding their coffee a bit of an enigma. I don't know what's going on with their espresso, but something's not quite right. The whole, but especially the end of the shot has something of a coarse mouthfeel and tastes too far into the deep end. Wayne suggested his machine was hitting the grounds too hot, and I think it might be hitting them too hard, but neither would quite seem to explain the problem. It seems almost as if extremely fine fines are getting through. If not the pressure, perhaps the portafilter? The grinder is a beast and has been upgraded, so I don't see how it could be that.
As i say, they're upgrading the machine anyway, but I'd appreciate if someone else could go do a taste test and see what they get. If you agree/can offer an explanation, I'm sure Wayne would be interested. Or am I going bonkers? Help!
As i say, don't be put off, I could still kill the best part of a day here quite happily
Basically they're great. Tea/coffee/muesli/cake - winner. They've upgraded grinder, are shopping for a new espresso machine and have started doing single origin coffees as well as the new house blend. They are now supplied by the all conquering Steve, and things are looking good and tasty!
I'm constantly impressed with the micro-foam on the capps, especially after being disappointed by some very well known establishments in the Big Smoke... ...However, I'm finding their coffee a bit of an enigma. I don't know what's going on with their espresso, but something's not quite right. The whole, but especially the end of the shot has something of a coarse mouthfeel and tastes too far into the deep end. Wayne suggested his machine was hitting the grounds too hot, and I think it might be hitting them too hard, but neither would quite seem to explain the problem. It seems almost as if extremely fine fines are getting through. If not the pressure, perhaps the portafilter? The grinder is a beast and has been upgraded, so I don't see how it could be that.
As i say, they're upgrading the machine anyway, but I'd appreciate if someone else could go do a taste test and see what they get. If you agree/can offer an explanation, I'm sure Wayne would be interested. Or am I going bonkers? Help!
As i say, don't be put off, I could still kill the best part of a day here quite happily